


all you have to do is stay

by SuddenlyTentacles



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Light Angst, M/M, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-10
Updated: 2018-08-10
Packaged: 2019-06-24 15:28:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15633507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuddenlyTentacles/pseuds/SuddenlyTentacles
Summary: All you have to do is stay a minuteJust take your timeThe clock is ticking, so stayAll you have to do is wait a secondYour hands on mineThe clock is ticking, so stay





	all you have to do is stay

**Author's Note:**

  * For [themomentofdavyprentiss](https://archiveofourown.org/users/themomentofdavyprentiss/gifts).



> Fill for the VLD Creators' Discord Server flash exchange! Tons of fun, even if I screwed up big time with my original fill and had to write this in a panic the very last day of turn ins haha :') 
> 
> anywho, shout out to [maddymayscrawls](https://archiveofourown.org/users/maddymayscrawls/pseuds/maddymayscrawls) and [Elucida](http://elucida.tumblr.com/) for stellar superfast betaing!

“I’m _fine._ ” Keith said. He’d lost count of how many times he’d told Lotor within the first three hours of waiting in the local ER, but his gut told him he was pretty damn close to the millionth iteration. Lotor had stopped dignifying it with a response somewhere around the half-way mark and started shooting him a quelling, narrow-eyed look that made it abundantly clear he was in deep shit for laying his bike down on the highway trying to dodge a deer. Lotor leveled the look at him again briefly from the driver’s seat, then turned his attention back to the road and flicked the turn signal on viciously. 

Keith scowled at the side of his head. Now that they were out of the ER and Keith’s road rash was slathered in antibiotics and bandanged to Lotor’s exacting standards, it was starting to get a little old.

“Seriously, Lotor.” He insisted, crossing his arms and wincing discretely when he brushed a raw elbow against the door panel. “This is nothing. The bike got it way worse than me.”

“The bike can’t become _septic_.” Lotor snapped acidly. He whipped the sedan into his apartment’s parking lot sharply, rolling to a hard stop in in front of his unit. 

Keith grimaced as Lotor deliberately unclipped his seatbelt and got out of the car. He unfastened his own as he silently cussed all the powerpoints Lotor had delightedly shown him of all the most disgusting specimens he’d come across while studying for his pathology exam. It wasn’t that it bothered him so much as he could see a tightness around Lotor’s eyes and mouth, and he just knew the damn things were looping through Lotor’s head in a horrible carousel of worst case scenarios. 

Lotor yanked open the rear passenger door behind him as he was opening his own, and grabbed the gym bag with the bloody, shredded remains of Keith’s gear and clothes, then slammed the door shut again. Keith was moving slower than he liked between the pain meds, the pain still left over after the meds, and pure exhaustion of the special kind that came from six straight hours in the ER; a short stay, all things considered. He was pretty sure the whole process was expedited by Lotor aggravating the actual ER doctor to death with snide commentary and pointedly helpful suggestions about Keith’s treatment.

Lotor reached for him and Keith braced himself— as much as he usually enjoyed Lotor’s occasional manhandling and casual displays of strength, he was _sore_ and he wasn’t looking forward to being thrown over Lotor’s shoulder the way Lotor did sometimes when he’d had enough of Keith’s crap. 

But the hand that touched his shoulder was as light as Lotor’s voice was stern, and Keith blinked in surprise and looked up at him.

“Inside.” Lotor ordered tersely, nodding at his front door. Keith nodded back and levered himself up and out of the car. He could feel Lotor’s hand hovering at his back as he went, and it sucked the ugly little knot of resentment and irritation he’d been nursing right out of him. Lotor moved ahead of him on the sidewalk to beat him to the front door with the keys, and then held it open as Keith meekly shuffled inside. 

“Have a seat, I’ll be back in a moment.” Keith nodded and sat down gingerly on the massive, overstuffed navy couch in Lotor’s living room, relaxing into it but only letting out a soft sigh when Lotor disappeared into the bedroom. He came back with one of the ridiculously huge pillows off of his bed with the entire king sized duvet bundled under one arm, a corner trailing on the floor as he bore down on Keith in a few long strides. He dropped the blanket on the floor and all but threw the pillow down on one end of the couch. Keith cringed as Lotor set it against the armrest and then laid into it, fluffing it brutally. 

“Hey, Lotor, c’mon—” He couldn’t take it anymore; the damn thing was going to rip and it was going to be three hours of trying to clean up a million tiny feathers like the last time Kova managed to break into the bedroom. He scooted towards Lotor onto the middle cushion and caught him by an elbow, swallowing hard when Lotor went still and shot him a cold look out of the corner of his eye. “—C’mere, okay? Just c’mere for a sec.” 

Lotor let Keith tug him to stand between Keith’s knees, expression still icy and distant as he looked past Keith, not quite at him. Keith tugged again, pulling him down this time, too fuzzy to say for sure what he wanted, but knowing it had something to do with the distance in Lotor’s face and a muffled, panicky need to close it skittering around in his heart. Lotor resisted the first pull and the second, but Keith spotted a crack in his expression— the twitch of his eyebrows, a flicker of an unhappy pull at the corners of his mouth— and tugged again.

Lotor went slowly to his knees between Keith’s legs. It wasn’t at all what Keith had been aiming for, but he rolled with it, rubbing his hands soothingly up and down Lotor’s forearms over his long sleeves. Lotor was level with him like this, but his head was almost bowed, his hair slowly falling forward over his shoulder as he looked down. Keith followed his gaze down between them, where his arms rested on Keith’s legs, and Keith’s scraped and scabbed hands rested on his arms. His heart twisted guiltily, and he gave Lotor’s arms a little squeeze and rubbed his thumbs over the inside of them.

“Hey,” He whispered, voice husky. “I’m okay. I promise. I’m not gonna go septic on you, or—”

Lotor’s quiet laugh of disbelief interrupted him, and Lotor shook his head, turning his hands palm up to return Keith’s grip on his arms, mimicking him by rubbing his thumbs over Keith’s bare skin.

“You can’t promise me that. Nobody can.” Keith saw just a flash of a heartbreaking smirk on Lotor’s lips through the fall of his hair, but it was the thickness of emotion in Lotor’s voice that made his eyes burn and his throat squeeze painfully tight.

“I know that.” Keith said, trying to ignore the memories of Lotor’s tired face as he listened to the tinny blare of deranged shrieking from his cellphone at 3 a.m., or the hollow look he got every time Keith walked with him across campus to Honerva Hall and then past the portrait of a bright-eyed young woman hanging in its foyer. He had more practice ignoring his own thoughts of rusty red pickup trucks on rain-slick highways and the rolling clink of glass bottles that had sounded like a lullaby when he was little. He’d always known how fast things could change, even before he met Lotor. “I know, but I’m okay. I’m okay right now.”

He felt Lotor pull in a slow, deep breath and blow it back out, slowly, shakily, making his hair flutter silently in front of his face. Keith rubbed his hands up Lotor’s arms to his biceps and tugged again; Lotor came easily this time, shuffling forward into the embrace on his knees and sliding his arms around Keith’s waist to wrap him in a painfully tight hug. Keith clung to his shoulders with one arm and rubbed his back with the other. He made big, soothing circles under the soft fall of Lotor’s hair, probably mussing it. Lotor could fuss at him later, but now he was too busy memorizing the silky brush of it over the back of his hand to care. 

He waited until Lotor’s grip loosened and then pulled back a bit, bringing a hand up to cup Lotor’s jaw to keep him from looking back down. Lotor’s cheeks were dry, but his eyes were dangerously bright when they finally met Keith’s gaze, a tight, miserable expression etched into Lotor’s face. The pain it ran through his heart was so sharp it took his breath away, so he ducked away from it and towards Lotor, and pressed their lips together gently. 

It wasn’t enough for Lotor; his hand came up to cup the back of Keith’s head and held him in place. Lotor pressed even closer, not deepening the kiss but _pressing_ until it ached, chaste and desperate. When they broke apart, Lotor’s breath was fast and shaky against his lips. Keith made a decision and nodded firmly to himself.

“Alright, c’mon, come here—” He said, tugging at Lotor and beginning to feel a bit like a broken record. But Lotor went with him easily as he leaned back and twisted in his seat, laying his head on the the pillow that’d been fluffed to within an inch of its life as Lotor crawled up onto the couch after him. He hesitated, hovering over Keith on all fours, and Keith patted his stomach encouragingly. “S’ok, it’s just my arms and legs all scraped up, I’m good.” It was a lie. He’d tumbled something like sixty feet ass over teakettle, and he was hours out from being one big bruise. Lotor would probably be mad about it later, but he’d also have a nap and a little distance from almost losing Keith by then.

Lotor shot him a dubious look, and Keith was almost afraid Lotor would call him on it, but after a beat he simply lowered himself down and pillowed his head gingerly on Keith’s belly, settling between Keith’s legs on his stomach and letting his ankles hook over the opposite armrest. He was gentle enough Keith didn’t even have to fight a flinch, and he sighed appreciatively as he shut his eyes and began to run his fingers through Lotor’s hair. He felt Lotor relax by inches, until he felt less like a cement gargoyle Keith was trapped under and more like a proper blanket. 

“We’re okay.” Keith murmured, combing Lotor’s hair back from his forehead in slow, smooth strokes of his fingers. “We’re gonna be fine. I’m not going anywhere.” 


End file.
